Crytek was founded in 1999 by three Turkish-German brothers, Cevat, Avni, and Faruk Yerli. The brothers have come together to bring a limited-series documentary about everything Crytek, with the first part already online. For the first time, fans will be able to see previously unseen footage, explore early concept art, and delve deeper into the stories that made the studio what it was.
The documentary starts with the story of the brothers getting a black box PC from their father, which they said was for “studying,” but they knew what they wanted to do with their lives. They also knew what they didn’t want.
“We cannot be a typical German game company, because German game companies, usually used to, back then, make strategy games, RPG games very complicated to play,” said Avni. “So our idea was to offer an experience, which is open-world sandbox experiences, semi-sandbox experiences, where you can also see the environment, walk around, experience everything. And that was completely new.”
Initially based in Coburg, Germany, the studio aimed to push the boundaries of real-time 3D graphics in video games. Their early tech demos, such as X-Isle, caught the attention of Nvidia and led to a publishing deal with Ubisoft for their first major game, Far Cry, released in 2004.
The first part mostly covers the development of Crysis and how they wanted to take what they learned from Far Cry and expand on that, pushing the limits on graphics at the time.
“In Far Cry, the art department created a natural environment as they have imagined it. Like they built the jungle out of their head, so to say. And in Crysis, we mimicked nature as closely as possible. I think that made a massive difference. Even though in some areas, the technology wasn’t so different,” said Crysis 3D artist, Marcel Schaika.
“The way we built the environment, the way we used the technology, like really specifically trying to mimic, how nature behaves, how leaves look like when the sun shines through them how the ocean looks like, how the water refracts, and so on,” Schaika continued. “The artists working together with the engineers to really try to create a virtual environment that looks just like the references that we have gathered. I think that mindset made Crysis stand out so much in comparison as well.”
Part one is only 20 minutes long, and it’s unclear how many parts of the documentary will be released.
In other Crytek news, the studio underwent layoffs earlier this year, resulting in a new Crysis sequel being put on hold.
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